Happy Birthday
by The Smiling Shadow
Summary: Tonight, is Venom's special night. Tonight he won't ruin it with crimes or anything. Tonight is special. Tonight is Venom's birthday. And he's willing to celebrate it with Peter.


Birthday  
  
We hum a humble song. Eddie likes to hum, so we like to hum. Eddie likes humming is favorite songs, so we allow him the pleasure when we hum.  
  
"Five minutes...Five more." We tell ourselves.  
  
We are excited. Eddie tells us he was excited whenever this type of day came. So we are excited.  
  
It is dark. We like the dark. We are the color of the dark. We like looking up at the stars. It reminds part of us of a home. Part of us came from the sky we remember. Up there, is a home for a part of us. A home we never were able to know. The stars make us feel better. The stars make us feel good inside.  
  
"Four more..."  
  
But the city... The city's lights make it difficult for our eyes to see the stars. But we must keep in mind that the stars our there. Stars would not leave us. Not like how every one left Eddie...Not like how Spider- man left the part of us from the stars. The stars are different. The stars would not abandon us.  
  
From here, the stars can still be see. Eddie tells us that those stars form, Orion. But we do not see a man. The part of us from the stars tells us it came from that direction. Eddie says that is close to the North Star. From here, atop this building we see everything.  
  
The city looks beautiful this night. Although we think everything looks beautiful this night. Because this night is special.  
  
"Three more..."  
  
The city barely looks like the city Eddie had so much pain. It does not look like the city where Eddie brings us pain. Although we have not been in the city for so long. It could have changed over the years we have left it.  
  
We hear footsteps.  
  
Spider-man.  
  
We take a deep breath, and pull our tongue into our mouth. The spikes go into our flesh. We try to stop drooling. We try to look as innocent as we can.  
  
We cannot ruin this special day.  
  
Spider-man nears. The echoes of his footsteps grow louder.  
  
We should kill him.  
  
No.  
  
It would be easy for us.  
  
No.  
  
We could hide in the darkness, and surprise him.  
  
We said no. And we mean no. Not tonight. Not on this special night.  
  
Then Spider-man enters this room we are in, and stops, ready for us to attack him. But we stay still, and try to ignore him.  
  
"Two more..." We say.  
  
Spider-man is confused.  
  
"Two more minutes, Spider-man. Would you like to join us?" We ask.  
  
Kill him!  
  
No! Not tonight. Tonight we are not enemies.  
  
"What are you up to?" He asks harshly.  
  
"You assume too much, Spider-man. We are up to nothing tonight. Tonight is special."  
  
We turn our head to him, and we pat the ground next to us, to tell him to join us. He is reluctant. Can we blame him? He comes slowly, sensing no danger.  
  
"What's going on? How did you escape from your prison?" He asks.  
  
"Just wait another minute." We tell him.  
  
He begins to crawl away from us.  
  
"Yes. It is time." We say.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Cake?"  
  
We grab the cake from our right, and hand a little to him on a plate. It is chocolate. Eddie likes chocolate, so we got chocolate for him.  
  
"Cake?" Spider-man is puzzled.  
  
"It is chocolate." We say.  
  
He grabs it confused, and looks at it. Perhaps he believes we put poison in it. Silly Spider-man.  
  
"Is this cake stolen?" He asks.  
  
"Maybe." We tease.  
  
"What's the occasion, Venom?"  
  
He is harsh.  
  
"Tonight is a special night, Peter. We would have expected you to remember this night." We say.  
  
"What are you talking about?"  
  
"One year ago, the symbiot met Eddie Brock. One year ago Venom was born, we were born."  
  
We smile, showing our teeth.  
  
"You're saying it's your birthday!?" Spider-man yells.  
  
"Eddie tells us that he would celebrate when he grew another year. So we are doing the same."  
  
We see Spider-man is scared.  
  
"Would you like a fork for your cake?" We hand him a fork.  
  
He is still scared. We lower our head.  
  
"We are disappointed in you, Peter." We say.  
  
We would have expected more from you, Peter. After all you were a part of us once. You understand what it is like to be us. You know we are not truly a monster.  
  
"Have you killed anyone tonight?" He asks, his voice hurts us.  
  
We laugh.  
  
"Of course not! Tonight is our special night. We do not ruin it, by fighting, by killing."  
  
Peter does not believe us. He is ready to fight. He wants to fight. He wants us gone from his life. As do we want him.  
  
"You do not trust us." We say.  
  
Peter shrugs.  
  
"We would have expected much more from you, Peter." We say.  
  
"Hey, don't look down at me, Eddie!" Peter yells.  
  
You were once us, Peter. You were fused with the symbiot. You were a part of us. A part of you still lingers in your mind. A part of your memories, your dreams. The thoughts of Mary Jane. We own a part of you, Peter, and you own a part of us. You should know we are not a monster. You should know. You should.  
  
We stare at you, Peter, and wonder if you'll ever allow yourself to understand.  
  
Then we turn, and eat our cake.  
  
We know you're staring at us, Peter. What are you thinking? Are you beginning to understand, or are you forcing yourself not to?  
  
"I want to see, Eddie." Peter says.  
  
We laugh.  
  
"Peter! Eddie is gone, he is dead. Only we remain. Only Venom." We say.  
  
"Let me see the face behind the mask." His voice is strong.  
  
We pause.  
  
"No, that is Eddie's face. We are Venom." We tell him. "Now eat your cake, or we will eat it for you."  
  
And we wrap our tongue around the cake, and swallow with one swift movement. We smile. Eddie was right, chocolate cake is delicious. We should allow ourselves more pleasures like these. They keep it away from us in prison, and last time we were to busy chasing Peter. Not this time. We want to enjoy ourselves this time.  
  
"I will need to take you back." Peter says.  
  
We look over at him, surprised.  
  
"Of course. That is expected. After all that is what you do, isn't it Peter. Save the good from the bad?" We begin.  
  
Peter backs away.  
  
"Of course, no one seems to question your judgment of good and bad. Except us. What makes us so bad, Peter? What made you want to take me away!?" We yell.  
  
"You tried to kill me!" He points.  
  
"You tried to kill us, first! Kill the symbiot after all it did for you!"  
  
"It...It..." Peter tries to explain.  
  
"It is all right. We only wish to understand." We say.  
  
Then it is back to cake. Forget the anger of the night, and hatred. Tonight is a special night, and we should be careful to keep it special. We do not want to ruin it.  
  
Yet, It is tempting.  
  
Spider-man. Peter has taken so much away from us. And now he won't even join us in cake for our special day. How rude.  
  
Spider-man ruined Eddie's life, and now he ruins ours.  
  
"Did you know we saved someone today?" We ask Peter.  
  
"What?" He is surprised.  
  
"A woman. She was being mugged, and we saved her. We even gave her, her purse back. But did she thank us? No, she ran away screaming."  
  
Spider-man takes the glory away from us. We save too, we rescue too. But no one knows that, no one cares about that. What people see is only a monster. And not us that wants to redeem.  
  
Peter, says nothing.  
  
"We rescue many people now. But they all run, screaming." We say.  
  
Peter looks away.  
  
We reach for cake, and realize there is none left. We frown. Perhaps we will go get more. But for now this is over.  
  
"As amusing as this has been, Peter, we must leave now." We say, and get up. "I assume we will be seeing you soon."  
  
"I can't let you go, Venom." He stops us.  
  
"Of course not, we assumed so."  
  
We do not turn to him, we show him our back. Then we grab him by the neck, and face, squeeze him into headaches, and bruises that won't go away for weeks. If only we can give him as much pain as he did to us. Then he struggles with us, and grabs our arms. But it is useless now.  
  
His grip loosens, as we show him our tongue and teeth, and the drool slips on his mask. Then he lets go, and slips into unconsciousness.  
  
We lay him down, gently, he won't wake for hours.  
  
But we do not kill him, even though we can now. We will not kill tonight. Tonight is a special night.  
  
Tonight is our birthday.  
  
And we see Peter's piece of cake, still untouched, and we help ourselves.  
  
We deserve it. After all, a birthday only comes once a year.  
  
"Happy birthday to us, Happy birthday to us. Happy birthday dear Venom! Happy birthday to us!" We sing.  
  
And we smile. 


End file.
